Chronicles of Passion
by GoldenStrike
Summary: Love, passion, and determination are the strongest forces, and cannot be suppressed. They will overcome all else, good or evil. By the end, hinted mainly for good. Team Seven's story unfolds anew.


Chronicles of Passion 3

Chronicles of Passion 1

Goldenstrike

**A/N**: Well, thanks for dropping by to read this story of mine! My name's Patrick, and I'm enjoying myself writing this story. First off I'd like to say that I'm a very devoted follower of God, and since I want God's trail to be my trail, I will open every chapter from the Catholic Bible. It's not a random quote that I choose; it's one reflecting upon the story, so see if you can find a way to add it in.

Second, this is not a story limited to one/two genres. It's mainly an adventure tale with lots of mystery, who's-who, action, and possibly romance. The final villain/goal will stay hidden for awhile for this reason: I want you to focus on the characters and their bonds, similar to what Kishimoto had his readers think about during Part I of Naruto. I promise to deliver in these regards, and the finale will (hopefully) be a blast. Enjoy!!

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_A good name is more desirable than great riches, and high esteem, than gold and silver. Rich and poor have a common bond; the Lord is the maker of them all. (Proverbs 22:1-2)_

--

"Team 7… Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sasuke Uchiha" announced a man in his early twenties. He read from a special type paper which was only used for times like these, naming life-long teams. This type of paper was extremely valuable, and did not disintegrate. They used this because of the potential of each team; they could go so far! And if they did, they would forever be written down in history, because this paper did not burn, rip, or have any effect on contact to liquid. The man reading from said paper was Umino Iruka, and the class's sensei. Iruka had a scar along the bridge of his nose, which ran horizontally just under his eyes. His hair was tied up in a short ponytail which almost reflected the shape of a pineapple, not much unlike that of a boy waiting to hear the announcement of _his_ teammates. The boy was of the Nara clan, and he was almost everything parents could ask for. Loving, brilliant, wise far beyond his years, tactical and cunning, considerate, and sensitive were some of his finest attributes. Typically, members of his clan would also include that he was very hardworking compared to the rest of the clan members of his age when describing him. In fact, he was just about average in terms of his work ethic compared to everyone else around him. Other than that, there was almost nothing that was average about him, minus his somewhat-above-average athletic abilities. He stood at about 5'3, weighing about 97 pounds, and his outfit consisted of the obvious ninja sandals, short black pants that skimmed his ankles and were held up by a brown belt, a brown fish-net shirt with a green seam, and a small vest which covered his ribs. The coat also sported a green seam, and had two American-style peace symbols on the shoulders. His right leg was also taped with bandages, for he had walked away from a spar yesterday with a nasty scar.

"Team 8- Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino...Team 10- Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino!" Iruka announced. Those three teams were the only ones Shikamaru cared about anyway. He already assumed those three would be the only ones that could pass. Team 7 was the only maybe in his mind – They essentially had no third member at all. Naruto was… to say the least, quite unskilled, unintelligent, and lacked any kind of willingness to partner-up with Sasuke.

_Ugh…This whole situation seems interesting, if not a little too troublesome. I mean, here we are at age fourteen, after six long years at the academy, finally graduating. I'll miss this place, I guess._

The rest of the day was an adventure to everyone, meeting their squad captains, sharing information, and some team bonding sessions were some of the activities that had taken place today. The day ended with most teams happy with who was on their team, except for Team 7. They were forced to wait five hours for their sensei to arrive, and he didn't even give his name when he did! Frankly, Uchiha Sasuke didn't care too much who he was paired with, so long as they were strong and reliable. Sasuke was a determined teen, driven to find his brother who had mysteriously disappeared one day when Sasuke was only 8 years old. He'd been quite close to his brother, Itachi, and memories of him still pained Sasuke when he would remember his childhood and wonder where he went. Not anybody had really taken his departure well either, as he remembered. His father and mother were especially distraught, and Sasuke was named heir to the clan. "Useless idiot" was a name he'd assigned Uzumaki Naruto early in their academy days, and that nickname still was used frequently when addressing the blond boy with the orange jumpsuit. Naruto wasn't really the pinnacle of the average 14 year-old boy, as many knew. He was also not well-liked for his pranks and mischief he'd brought everybody. They'd waited four hours for their sensei to arrive, and showed up around 7:30. Their sensei was quite pleased with his team. Haruno Sakura and Naruto each took the middle ground, though. Sakura was glad to be on Sasuke's team, but disdained to find Naruto among her as well. Naruto was glad to be on Sakura's team, but was steaming that he had to be grouped with the "Raven-bastard" as Naruto dubbed him. Sakura didn't really have a nickname from her teammates, but Shikamaru's new teammate, Ino, liked to call her "Pinky" when they argued. It all came from them fighting for Sasuke's heart when they were younger, and they hadn't called it quits, even now. They argued often, and Sakura and Ino had lists of names they'd called each other. Those names weren't quite the greatest complements, if one can understand. Sakura's appearance was another thing, too. The other girls, such as Ino and Hinata had started puberty much early than Sakura had; she was just beginning to blossom, and to be honest, looked very young. Ino and Hinata's bodies only had a few more changes to undergo, but Sakura had just started to grow, and her body had yet to fill out. Ino and Hinata had already had the big hips/womanly figure, and Sakura just looked young compared to them. Ino liked to take advantage of this in arguments, calling Sakura flat constantly, because Sakura lacked any bosom at all, compared to Ino and Hinata. Looking at her Sakura's mother, there didn't seem like much of a chance for Sakura not to change though. Mrs. Haruno was hands-down the most beautiful lady to live in Konoha.

So, the fresh team met atop "The Cliff" as Naruto had called it. It was on the grass area above the Hokage faces. Naruto had picked it out as a team meeting spot for today. Right now, it was about sundown, the sky had just begun to present its beautiful pink self when they sat down to talk.

"So, team, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I dislike those who do not follow the rules or help their teammates. They are trash, and even worse. I enjoy reading, training myself as a ninja and a better person…My goal is to help train you three to become the greatest ninja you can." Kakashi stated, drawing laughs from Naruto and Sakura. Without reacting, he nodded to Sasuke to go next.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke, I dislike anyone that is clingy, loud, or thinks too highly of themselves. I like alternative country/rock music, and I also enjoy training to become a better ninja. And... My goal is none of anyone's business." He glanced at Sakura to go next.

"Uh, yeah. I'm Sakura. I dislike a few things, mainly annoying people, but I really like shopping, hanging out with my friends, food, and guys. I don't have any real goal now, so… go Naruto." She finished by looking at him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm Naruto, and I'm gonna be the greatest Hokage that anyone's ever seen, no doubt. My dislikes are far and few, but I really don't appreciate jerks, perverts. I, like Sasuke, love to train, and also enjoy writing a bit too, I guess."

Kakashi nodded a few times, and then instructed them to meet him back here tomorrow at 8:30 for training, subsequently puffing into a cloud of smoke. Naruto took the chance he had now to ask Sakura if she would like to walk home with him. Without facing him, she quickly replied, "Sorry, I can't. I have some things I need to do. Maybe later." And she left him. Naruto remained there, with a sad smile plastered on his face, and then decided to pick up where he left of yesterday, training his taijutsu. He stretched, and began to punch a training post he'd set up.

And so, three hours later, Naruto had lain down on his back, exhausted from his training. He removed his headband, placing it in his ninja sack. He preferred it there because it always seemed to get in his way. Naruto glanced around. Lots of grass, and trees were all he could see. When he sat up, he looked over the cliff and saw the beautiful village of Konohagakure and its city lights. He looked up and noticed the wide smoggy sky and assumed it was about 10:30 PM. This was…

_One hell of a night… I wish it could always be like this. Just this view is enough to bring anyone around…_

The blond shinobi drifted into an array of related thoughts, and then

--

Naruto rubbed his eyes, and then opened them. He was in his own bed, and it was 7:50, and the sun was shining down on his face. Then, realizing that he should be over by the cliff from last night, he noticed a note on his bed. He sat up and read:

_Naruto, I carried you home last night after I had noticed you were sleeping. Don't be late for tomorrow! We're meeting at Training Ground 7 too, and I need you to tell the others._

_Kakashi_

Naruto figured that he'd had another mission to take care of, and happened to find him on the way back home. He silently thanked Kakashi, and then got dressed, cleaned his apartment, and grabbed a piece of toast on his way out to go meet with his team. As he got to Sasuke's house in the Uchiha Territory, he finished the last of his toast. He rang the doorbell, and Sasuke came out, looking at Naruto oddly.

"Hey, what're you doing here?" Sasuke asked Naruto briskly. He had his arms folded. He looked ready to go and not tired at all.

"Come on, we're meeting at Training Ground 7 today. We need to get Sakura first, though. Are you ready to go?" Naruto asked him.

"Yeah, let's go." Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets, and began walking with Naruto. It was a fine day outside, there were a few clouds, but sunny and at 80 degrees. There was little wind, and Naruto suspected that Sakura would rather be out at the beach. _I wonder if we'll get a mission soon. I'm really looking forward to them, just to prove I'm worth twice as much credit as they've given me. _

"So…um, what's going on?" Naruto asked sheepishly. He established eye contact, not letting Sasuke assume he was a weakling.

"Not much, really. I just saw you last night." Sasuke replied coolly. That was all Naruto really needed to know, so he shut up during the rest of the trip to Sakura's house. Naruto rang the doorbell, and Sakura's mother answered.

"Hello boys! How can I help you?" She asked kindly. She had pink hair, like Sakura. She was also about seven inches taller, too. Sasuke and Naruto both quickly noticed this, and exchanged glances when Sakura peeked through, and came outside to greet them. Her mother also had green eyes, and upon closer inspection by Naruto, shared almost every trait with her daughter, but with a more developed body. Sakura was pretty damn short, they noted.

"Sakura, Kakashi sent Naruto to get us to come to Training Ground 7 today. Are you almost ready to go?" Sasuke spoke. He ran his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, let's go. I was just about to leave anyway." She said softly. They waved good-bye to her mother on the way out, and quickly arrived at their destination. They sat down, and waited for what seemed like eternity before their sensei showed up. He was wielding a wazakashi, and had his arms folded. All three pupils looked at him intently, as if he was being begged to explain.

"Fight me, or you'll not only fail the exam, you'll never be able to become a ninja." Kakashi said softly.

Then he quickly removed several shurikens, and tossed them right ahead at the trio. But they never reached Sasuke and Sakura, for Naruto parried each of them with his own kunai.

"Katon, Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Hatake called out, summoning forth a huge flame, which was shot right at Naruto. Sasuke quickly grabbed Sakura and escorted her to safety while Naruto unwittingly applied chakra to his feet to leap right over the huge fireball.

Sakura was quick to gather herself. She looked directly at Kakashi and began to unleash a small genjutsu upon him. Kakashi was caught off guard and froze on spot. Sakura began to move close into Kakashi with Sasuke right behind her. Sasuke then proceeded to tie down their sensei quite easily.

"Naruto, I've caught him, now you can… at least reason with him, just don't hurt him. Sakura and I don't really want to be civilians forever, you know?" Sasuke cautioned. Naruto nodded without looking at him, and approached Kakashi, who was tied down by cables, and couldn't wiggle himself free.

"If there is no other way for all of us to pass… Then I will kill you to prove our unit's worth. The Hokage couldn't turn us down if we've slain a jounin." Naruto drew a short breath, before waiting for an answer. He looked intently into Kakashi's eye, for the other one was covered by his headband. "…I know I'll regret this one day, so I'm going to do it quickly and get this over with." And with one swift motion, Naruto beheaded Kakashi, watching him spew blood everywhere. Sakura gasped, stunned by Naruto's aggression.

_What kind of a guy had so few reserves for killing a fellow ninja? Sasuke felt the same way, right? She must have, he thought, I can't be the only one_.

Sasuke quickly turned away and step back from the scene when he felt Sakura's hand grasp his, and she tugged for him. Slowly turning around, he noticed that she was smiling, and that Naruto was standing, awe-struck by his own actions. Sasuke took a few steps back towards Naruto and then gazed up to see Kakashi standing unscathed.

"You three, pass, with flying colors. I never imagined you would have actually attacked me and then try to kill me, though. I was pretty surprised." Naruto wasn't listening; he was a bit shaken up from the whole thing. "Naruto, you've done very well today, resolving to kill someone. Most ninja your age still have trouble killing without a second thought, and I tip my hat too your determination. You three have shown the necessary ability to co-operate with each other as a unit, and so I grant you the honor of being the first group to ever pass my test. Consider yourselves genin now." Kakashi finished, with a smile in his face.

--

If you had asked Sasuke about what the 3 months had been like, he'd probably respond by saying that it was pretty much his life had been flipped upside down. These months were full of the hardest work he had ever been put through in his entire life. He'd tell you that speed training was the worst kind he could imagine. The one thing that he wouldn't tell you is that this sort of emotional roller coaster was painfully engraved in his mind before.

The Uchiha Mas-

He couldn't be bothered to tell you about it.

On his left was Naruto, and to his right, Sakura stood. Kakashi resided directly behind him. The quartet was in front of the southern gates of Konohagakure.

"Our first mission outside Konoha…" Kakashi trailed off. As he gazed upwards at the bright, blue sky, memories of his own first mission outside the Leaf flashed in his head. He tried to recall his own sensei's words. 'Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion'. These were Yondaime's words to out team on our first mission. They still hold true for us."

His team didn't respond, but inside of each of them were tiny butterflies.

"Let's go, guys." Kakashi said after a brief pause. And they were off.

_Thirty Minutes Ago-_

"_Your mission is to travel south into the Land of Tea. You will next meet up with the local police. To receive a parcel they're supposed to pass on to you, you need to give them the password, 'Weasel'. _

_Sandaime bid them farewell._

_--_

The three of them traveled on their way without any irregularities; the mission was going according to plan so far. They had each swapped nights on watch duty, with nothing to report. The scenery changed a bit as they moved south; the once common, immense trees of Konoha were replaced by endless fields of grass and the occasional mountainside. To camp out at night required a cave and fortunately there were quite a few along the way. Another substitution was the welcome addition of the sight of the moon and stars. The nights here in the Tea Country were beautiful, and warm, of course. The atmosphere during the day and night was vastly different from Konoha as well; there was a sense of freedom, vastness, and passion here, like you were king of the land. There were no villages around, save for the few small towns of Fishing Village, Degarashi Port, and their destination, Port City. There was a single dirt path to guide travelers to the next town in this land, rather than the tree highways of Konoha.

It was their fourth day since they'd departed, and they had just entered the village. Kakashi brought his team together just beforehand to lay down some guidelines.

"Ok, first, you need to hand me your headbands. As Konoha ninja here, we are neither allied nor enemies of the people here. But, we're not at home, and you don't know what could happen. The rule of thumb for visiting villages is to remove your head bands, so it'll be something you need to get used to.

Second, you guys need to let me speak here. You guys can't be making any disturbances to cause attention, even talking. The people here have a bit of an accent, and they'll spot you right away if you're not from here. I told you guys that I've served in the ANBU as a captain, right? Well, part of our training compromised of learning accents of surrounding territories, and so I've been taught not only in the speech here, but part of the culture. Just act natural, but don't act out of line. That's all."

The team nodded swiftly, and began to venture into the unfamiliar territory. Upon entering the gate, the group was eyed by the guards. Without his headband, Kakashi spoke to the guards briefly before being allowed in.

--

"Gah, these people are pissing me off…" an irked Naruto remarked. "They've taken Kakashi-sensei for the last hour, and we can't even train here! What gives?"

"You idiot, of course we can't train. As soon as we whip out a jutsu, specifically if you two do, we're in trouble. Anybody here that's been around will know where we're from, and we'll have blown our cover. Konoha's jutsu are very distinct, Naruto," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Though, he is right Sasuke. We're stuck here in this cabin for the entire night," said Sakura.

"You have to be kidding me, right? I must have missed that," Naruto said. "Well then, what are going to do with ourselves? Kakashi-sensei's left us nothing!"

The three teens looked around to each other passively for the following moments, pondering efficient ways to spend their time. They were alone in a two-story mahogany cabin on the outskirts of town.

"_Well, I'll be back later tonight. I need to rendezvous with a friend of mine before we complete our mission. Later", called Kakashi._

"I want to know exactly what you two are like. I mean, on our first day as a team, we didn't learn much about each other, and I think it'd be neat to know about you two." Naruto chimed.

Sasuke glared at him with the classic what-the-hell look on his mug. Sakura raised a brow, but motioned to speak first.

"I guess I can say a little bit more… I won't tell you all about me, because I'm a firm believer in revealing bits of personality as time goes on. I don't want to know about your fetishes and garbage just yet. My birthday is September 29, and I was born at 7:36 at night. My favorite thing to do would be shopping, but I think I told you that. I'm really into music too. I like to cook too, and apparently I'm not half bad, my parents say. My dream, though, I lied to you about. I do have one, and it's to become a happy woman with an awesome family. I want us to be model citizens." Sakura finished with a bit of a blush. "Sorry, it's just that I don't really tell people much about these things, and it's pretty awkward."

Sasuke was quick to raise his hand and volunteer to go second.

"Sure, if we're all serious about this, I guess a little bit of show-and-tell can't hurt. As you both know, I'm Sasuke Uchiha. My favorite food is tomatoes, and my least favorite is spicy tuna. I like taking pictures too. I'm a big follower of rock and roll music, although my dream is to become the Leader of the Fire Nation. I'm sure I'd be awesome at ruling our home."

"For me, it's just a few things. I practice to become an excellent author, because if I can't accomplish my first goal of becoming Hokage, then I'll pursue a career as a writer. Once I'm Hokage, though, I haven't quite decided what I'm going to do. There's more I could say… but that's all for now," Naruto finished. A brief silence followed.

"…So," Sakura glanced at Sasuke, "you like photography, Sasuke?" Sakura questioned.

--

Around three hours later, precisely at 9:09 P.M., Kakashi entered the door with a smile under his mask. He quickly shut the door, and called out for his students.

"We're upstairs, sensei" Sasuke called.

The silver-haired jounin sprang up the stairs and into a bedroom where his three genin sat in a circle on the floor.

"I've got some very interesting news, you guys. I've found something that you'll never believe! It's called a Time Orb." Kakashi removed a bouncy-ball sized orb in his left hand that sparkled intensely. It was a piercing blue color and it seemed ready to burst with energy.

"A what?" the three genin asked in unison.

"A Time Orb, and it's incredible. Let me tell you how it came into my possession. See, I told you that I was going out to meet a friend, right? Well, when I found her, she gave me this. It's supposed to have a special ability, but nobody has been able to crack its exterior yet. She believes that this thing should be with me."

"Do you know what it does?" asked Sasuke. "I mean, if you don't know, it'd be quite a letdown."

"Rumor has it that it can warp one into another continent," Kakashi answered. "It's not something I've even heard of until about six months back, when reports of the Hidden Cloud village came in, and the Jounin-rank and above was alerted of their presence. Rumor has it that a few of these things are in some pretty nasty people's hands by now. Our intelligence unit hasn't really been too effective in trying to learn more about these, for the obvious reason that we don't have any until now. This was our mission, to receive one of these."

"So your saying we were lied to just to finish the mission? We're leaf shinobi just like you! Why are we being lied to?" Naruto asked.

"You haven't had proper training in torture yet. If we were ambushed and captured while on the mission after I'd told you about this, there would be problems. I don't know how reliable you are when people that are ranked where I am are ready to do whatever it takes to pry secrets out of you. It's not offensive; it's just the way things are. If they had stolen the location of the time orb from you three, they could go intercept it and learn of its secrets.

"Here's my question; why is Konoha giving us, fresh genin, a mission like this?" Sasuke asked.

"…I'm not sure, Sasuke; that's the truth. Maybe Sandaime will tell us when we get back." Kakashi said. "For now and until further notice, what I've said to you is extremely off-limits to speak of to anybody except for the Hokage, other Jounin, and myself. Now get your stuff ready so we can leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow."

--

Feel free to drop a review, I take all critiquing, and such.

My Email address is if people have concerns/questions about the story.


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